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Scripture~Luke 11.24-26 (CEV)
24When an evil spirit leaves a person, it travels through the desert, looking for a place to rest. But when it doesn't find a place, it says, "I will go back to the home I left." 25When it gets there and finds the place clean and fixed up, 26it goes off and finds seven other evil spirits even worse than itself. They all come and make their home there, and that person ends up in worse shape than before.
Quote
He destroys that He might build, for when He is about to rear His sacred temple in us, He first totally razes that vain and pompous edifice that human art and power had erected, and from its horrible ruins a new structure is formed by His power only.
*Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717), in Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography
Comments
The Luke scripture addresses need for regeneration and commitment spiritually. The person had underwent a reformation; the harmful spirit had been cast from him. This left a void, however, for the person did not undergo spiritual regeneration.
Spiritual regeneration implies both spiritual commitment and new life through the indwelling Holy Spirit. There is no void left in true spiritual regeneration, and there is no neutrality in our devotion.
Guyon points to this need for the old not just to be cleaned up, but for it to be razed to the ground. While her saying might be read as a sudden experience, this razing might take many years, though in~potential it occurs when one turns to Christ for rebirth through Grace.
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Also, Guyon speaks of the new birth as a "sacred temple," a "new structure." This newness is not by our human working. The old is replaced in-potential by new, and the ongoing will to entire sanctification leads to a progressive dismantling of the old self and the replacing of it with the new, spirit-infused self. This new self has a fresh way of thinking and behavior, replacing those of the old self.
This process and need applies to persons and a church, indeed, the Church. Again, Guyon writes, "By means which seem to destroy His church, He establishes it. How strangely does He found the new dispensation and give it His sanction!"
Suggested Reflection
1. How do you see the replacing of the old self with the new self in your life as an ongoing act of Grace?
2. How do you see the replacing of the old church with the new church in your church as an ongoing act of Grace?
See next page for details on OneLife Ministries, Brian's book An Ache for Union, and material pertaining to sources used in the writing.
Feel free to submit a query on how OneLife Ministries can better serve you. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
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